Gan HaYir Tower, Urban compound in central Tel Aviv, Israel.
Gan HaYir Tower is a 26-storey residential tower rising about 90 metres above a two-level shopping centre, both designed by Cnaan Elchanani Architects and built in 1981. The tower and the mall share an octagonal plan; the mall wraps an open octagonal courtyard with a fountain, and its roof carries a public garden leading to the Enav cultural centre and a bridge to Tel Aviv City Hall.
The site was bought by Tel Aviv municipality in 1925 from Ibrahim Shuki Efendi, a resident of the Arab village of Sumayil, for 3,000 pounds, intended for a central city hospital. The hospital was never built; instead, the Portalis orchard became Gan Hadassah in 1939, and the Tel Aviv Zoo operated there until 1980. The current complex, designed by Arieh Elhanani and N. Cnaan, was built in 1981, with a residential tower atop a shopping center.
The compound is named Gan HaYir, officially renamed Gan Ofer in June 2023 after businessman Ofer Eliyahu, who helped establish and manage it and died in 2022; he was the son of Shlomo Eliyahu. The site's earlier name, Gan Hadassah, dates from 1939, when the Pardes Portalis orchard and its swimming pool were formally given that name.
The tower is in central Tel Aviv and easy to reach on foot or by public transport from most parts of the city. Inside, lifts connect all floors, and the shops at street level are directly accessible without going through the main building entrance.
The name Gan HaYir means "city garden" in Hebrew, a reference to a small green space that once stood on or near this site. Almost nothing of that earlier landscape remains today, but the name has stayed.
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